>> this is "bbc world news." funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. shell. and union bank. >> union bank has put its financial strength to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations.

what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news." >> hopes of reform rise in burma as it releases the first batch of more than 6,000 prisoners. an iranian charged with plotting to kill the saudi ambassador to washington. a special report from uganda as the victim of child sacrifice describes his ordeal and names his attacker. welcome to "bbc world news." i'm david eades. also coming up in the program -- in which country does a pull pop into a pub for a pint? >> hello. the release of potentially thousands of prisoners from jails in burma is underway. it's part of a long-awaited

amnesty. we understand already around 120 political prisoners have been freed, including one prominent satarist. as many as 6,000 will be released. while many will have criminal convictions, the eyes of western diplomats will be fixed on how many of these detainees were being held for their politics. our correspondent, rachel harvey, is in bangkok in neighboring thailand. i asked her how many prisoners we're expecting to see. >> the total number of prisoners the government has set is just in excess of 6,500, 6,559 i think is the figure they stated yesterday. but the majority of those will not be political prisoners. and as you rightly said in your introduction, the eyes of the world will be on that total. that we do not know. no list has been made public of which prisoners are to be freed today. it looks as though at the moment the number of those considered to be political

detainees who have been released today stands at somewhere around 100 and is expected to rise. now, in advance of this day, there has been widely anticipated, diplomats that i've spoken to said they were hoping and/or expecting the final figure to be somewhere in the region of perhaps 200 or 300 political prisoners set free. >> rachel harvey. if washington wanted a good reason to further isolate iran in the international community, they have found one. the f.b.i. has uncovered an alleged iranian plot to assassinate the saudi ambassador to washington. president obama said the plot was the work of iran's revolutionary guard, an iranian-american arrested over this plot is said to have confessed. but iran has dismissed the accusation as a comedy show, a fabrication. steve kingston is in washington. >> manslaughter sour arbabsiar, a holder of iranian and american passports, and now a

terror suspect, accused of plotting an assassination on orders from tehran. and this, prosecutors say, was the intended victim, adel al-jubeir, saudi arabia's ambassador to the united states. the indictment was the diplomat was to have been targeted at a washington restaurant, and that, when told, members of the public might also died, he allegedly replied, "no big deal." >> these individuals are no regard for their intended victims, no regard for innocent citizens who might have been hurt or killed in this attempted assassination. they had no regard for the rules of law. >> the alleged co-conspirator is described as a member of the quds force, a special operations unit within iran's revolutionary guard. it's claimed manssor arbabsiar was told to plan the assassination with hit men from

a mexican drug cartel. his one of his informants was, in fact, a u.s. informant. >> so, an iranian plot to kill a saudi ambassador using mexican drug traffickers bringing terror to washington. authorities here admit it sounds like a hollywood script, but the final act is still unfolding. in response, the u.s. treasury has imposed sanctions on four senior members of the revolutionary guard. washington will use this case to further isolate tehran diplomatically. >> we will be consulting with our friends and partners around the world about how we can send a very strong message that this kind of action, which violates international norms, must be ended. >> the iranian authorities have dismissed the allegations as a fabrication, war mongering propaganda by america.

a broken relationship is suddenly even more challenged. steve kingston, bbc news, washington. >> now to a name which reverberates through israel. gilad shalit, the young soldier kidnapped by hamas five years ago and whose release has been a battle of political wills ever since. well, now, the israeli prime minister, netanyahu, says his freedom has been secured. he'll be back with his family within days. in return, more than 1,000 palestinian prisoners will be freed over the course of the next few weeks. that's the price exacted by hamas. rupert winfield hayes reports from jerusalem. >> last night in jerusalem, the israeli cabinet gathered to confirm a decision that people here have been waiting for for five years, a decision that israel's government has agonized over for nearly as long. the words from prime minister netanyahu's lips confirmed a deal has been struck with hamas to release a young israeli soldier, gilad shalit.

>> i bring a proposal to the government, he says, for a deal that will bring gilad shalit home, alive and well. this is the last proof that gilad shalit is still alive, a video released by hamas more than two years ago. at that time, the young soldier had already been held somewhere in gaza for three years. the open hatred between israel and hamas has made this an extremely difficult deal to strike. shalit has been in captivity for more than five years. now israel says it will release 450 palestinian prisoners, and once gilad shalit is free, another 550 palestinian prisoners will be released. for the hamas leadership, this is a huge propaganda coup. and it has been very quick to point out the scale of its success.

>> 1,000 men and 27 women feel they are to be released in two stages. within a week, 450 prisoners will be released, followed by the second part of the deal in two months' time. a thaw deal will also be extremely popular here in israel. gilad shalit's five-year captivity has been an open sore in a country where most families send a son or a daughter to the military. the one thing it will not do, though, is bring an israeli-palestinian peace deal a step closer. if anything, by boosting the popularity of hamas, it could make a resumption of peace negotiations that much harder. but in jerusalem, no one is thinking about politics or hamas. instead, gilad shalit's family and supporters have begun their celebration. after five years of waiting, they know that israel's longest-held military captive

will soon be coming home. rupert winfield hayes, bbc news. >> the bbc's jon donnison is in jerusalem, and he can explain the timing of the deal. >> this deal really came about because of a position of weakness in the negotiations from hamas, really. i think there is a feeling that, two years ago when hamas was in a stronger position, they would not have done this deal. in the short term, they will receive a big boost in the release of 1,000 prisoners, 1,000 families getting a relative coming home. but when you actually look at the list of names of the prisoners who are on that list, some of the big names that they were demanding be freed in the past two years are not on that list, and i think, really, it shows that they have actually compromised and that reflects a weakness in their position, particularly in recent weeks. >> jon donnison there. all right, jamie is with me with business.

the european commission president has been putting forward what he'd like to see out of the bailout. >> this is just one amongst a mass of things coming out. it's part of the gradual -- i'd like to say rolling out, but that sounds rather organized and specific. but it's actually not like that at all. it's rolling out various plans for producing a bailout fund to be able to produce a system which can rescue or can prop up countries. barroso will be talking and is probably going to be talking about the role of the bailout fund and this is the one which has been stymied by this election, by this vote in slovakia. but i think whatever he says, of course, you're always at the mercy of democracy, and i don't think that's ever going to go away, but democracies make up the 17 countries in the eurozone, and they can always put a block to it.

>> the worst form of government except all the others, as was said. jamie, thanks very much. much more in "world business report." another day, another attempt by libya's new government to take colonel gaddafi's last major stronghold and his hometown of sirte. there are some indications the fight may soon be over after a visit to the town by the representative of the national transitional council. is the end game closer? it's a question for our correspondent in sirte, wiree davis. >> it's impossible to tell, but anybody who suggests that fighting is almost over is being rather premature. the visit of the head of the national transitional council yesterday was to the southern suburbs, but the city center itself is still being defended by pro-gaddafi fighters. there's a lot of heavy shelling going into the town. it almost appears they're trying to pummel those pro-gaddafi fighters into submission. the units that we're following

at the minute of fighters from misrata loyal to the new government, they've been stuck here for a couple of days now, and most of the fighting is happening about a kilometer down the road from here, which is the main television station, and that is another kilometer back from the center of the city. so, i think any suggestion of the fighting is about to finish, again, as i say, is rather premature. it's going in one direction because of the superior firepower enjoyed by the new government forces. but there's a lot of fighting still to be done. >> wyrie davis in a very active sirte, at least on the outskirts. this could threaten the premier league, in terms of power. >> absolutely. liverpool's managing director basically has called for the breakup of the current tv deal, which, at the moment, shared the huge billions equally

amongst all the premier league clubs. he believes it's very important that the leading clubs, manchester united, liverpool, chelsea, arsenal, we know who they are, he wants them to sell their tv rights on an individual basis. at the moment, that particular pot is worth 1.4 billion pounds . he argues, if you're watching, you choose to subscribe so you can watch the big clubs of course basically, the problem with this is that the smaller clubs in the premier league are going to be agitated by this. they're going to believe it should still be an equal split. if they can't get the sort of money that they believe they deserve as well, they could potentially go elsewhere. so, is the premier league -- >> could break up the premier league. >> it could potentially. >> it will run around, won't it? >> certainly will. >> thank you very much. you're watching "bbc world news." i'm david eades.

plenty more still to come, including the brutal violence inflicted on children in uganda as part of child sacrifice rituals. a hospital which pioneered the use of ultrasound to produce body scans is now using the same technique to heal broken bones. the treatment speeds up recovery times by more than a third. the treatment is also expected to reduce the cost of treating fractures. our scotland health correspondent, with more. >> this is achieved by smearing the abdominal wall with olive oil. >> just over 50 years ago in glasgow, professor ian donald and his team discovered that sound waves could be used to look at what was going on inside the body. ultrasound was born. now doctors here in the same city are using ultrasound not to look inside the body, but to heal it.

apprentice engineer gary denham broke his leg and ankle when he fell 20 feet off a water tank. >> my leg went forward, and the way it was lying, it was just basically sagging. >> gary was broken into pieces. there was even a danger it would have to be amputated. >> with this type of fracture healing with some difficulty, and some of them don't heel at all. even if they do, it can take between six and 12 months. >> but he's one of a small number of specialists using ultrasound. >> this is an ultrasound device which delivers ultrasound waves to the fracture which stimulates the bone to heal or regenerate new bone in terms of fracture healing. and we use it for the difficult fractures, ones with problems with healing. it's a very simple, painless

treatment. >> a probe delivers waves similar to those used to scan pregnant women. it's known to be safe and has helped gary heal twice as fast. >> this is "bbc world news." the headlines this hour -- the first group of more than 6,000 prisoners are released in burma as part of an amnesty. the american authorities have charged two iranians over an alleged plot to assassinate a saudi diplomat. let's go back to that story. u.s. allegations that iran was behind the plot to assassinate the saudi ambassador to washington, our senior iranian official has dismissed the claims as mischievous. they've been described as a comedy as well, all part of an attempt to fuel tension between tehran and riyadh. let's get more on it. i'm joined by the middle east

analyst. thanks for joining us. what do you make of this? >> i think it's such a far-fledged plot. at best, it's rogue elements within the quds brigade. even that is such a huge departure for them. they've always been focused on their back yard in iraq and lebanon, so this is a huge departure. >> when you said far-fetched plot, are you suggesting it's not really? >> we have to get the facts. at the moment, it's so sketchy. there's drug cartels and others floating about. it's difficult to jump to conclusions at this stage. >> there's been a reference already from hillary clinton saying we need to further isolate iran. so there is an american interest in pushing this at the moment in one sense. >> sure, there is an argument that this is an effort to galvanize international opposition against iran, and there are a number of things that need to be looked at before jumping to conclusions. >> let's not jump to conclusions, but what you perhaps could do is give us a sense of the political

landscape at the moment in iran . president ahmadinejad, in a scuffle, really, a battle to maintain a semblance of control. >> absolutely. iran has never been a monolithic structure. there are divisions between the supreme leader, between the presidency, and these divisions air themselves quite regularly. so this is a advertise he will for power. but it plays into the wider regional power struggles, and the sectarianization of the region is very worrying, because we're seeing it in bahrain and syria, and we're seeing it throughout the region. and this is part and parcel and will heal that sentiment in the region. >> do you think as far as the saudis are concerned that they would take this terribly seriously, or are more likely to see it possibly for what they think it is? >> they seem to be taking it quite credibly seriously at the moment, but we've got to see how, in the next week to months, things play out. >> ok. thank you very much indeed. >> thank you.

>> child sacrifice, it's said to be an ancient practice upheld by witch doctors has re-emerged in uganda. a bbc investigation has discovered many cases are not followed up by the police and very little is being done to protect potential victims. according to a major report released by the charity jubilee campaign, around 900 ugandan children have fallen victim to the practice. our correspondent, chris rogers, traveled to the capital, kampaa,where he met one victim who did manage to survival the deal. some viewers may find the contents disturbing. >> he did suffer brain damage, which is common. >> they call him the miracle child. a machete was sliced through his head and neck in an attempt to behead him. he was also cast rated, the work of witch doctors, attempting child sacrifice. >> this is where the cut was. there's a bone missing here. >> the 9-year-old's mutilated

body was found just a mile from his home. it was a month before he woke from a coma. doctors are surprised alan survived, but he will need a lifetime of emotional and physical therapy. child sacrifice, a ritual, was rare here until three years ago when it re-emerged, coinciding with a boom in uganda's economy. it's widely believed that some members of the new elite are paying witch doctors vast sums of money for an ancient practice in the belief it will bring them greater wealth and good health. but these people do not sacrifice their own children. in the villages that surround the capital, i hear horrific stories. >> this is where you found the body? >> this woman found the decapitated body of her 6-year-old grandson, steven. he'd been missing for 24 hours.

the local witch doctor admitted to sacrificing steven. she told me that the police didn't want to investigate. >> they offered me money to keep quiet. >> she refused the offer. uganda has a child sacrifice police task force, but families complain of corruption and slow investigations. alan's father has sold his home to pay for alan's medical treatment and moved to the slums near the capital. they are also waiting for justice. the men alan claims kidnapped him for sacrifice live in this village. they were arrested and released without charge. but members of this community have told us that they continue to take children and sacrifice them. posing as businessmen, we asked around for a witch doctor who could bring success to our local construction projects. we were introduced to this man.

during the first meeting, he sacrificed a goat to bring luck to the business. a few days later, we were invited back to his shrine to discuss what he regards as the most powerful spell, child sacrifice. >> there are two ways of doing this. we can bury the child alive on your construction site or we cut the child and put their blood in a bottle of spiritual medicine. if it's a male, the whole head is cut off and his genitals. we were dig a hole at your construction site and bury the feet and the hands and put them all together in the hole. >> alan, do you recognize this man? and is he one of the men that took you, alan?

if yes? >> it's too dangerous to confront him, so reinformed the police of our findings. official police figures show 38 children have been victims of sacrifice since 2006, a number based solely on conclusive investigations. charities complain 900 reported cases remain outstanding, including alan's. >> if we get information that someone is involved in doing criminal activities, like human sacrifice, we shall go and investigation. and if we prove the case, we shall take them to court. sometimes the cases, the complaints are not proven.

>> in the last year, there have been more victims of child sacrifice from alan's parish than the official number for the entire country. communities like this one are backing the charity, jubilee campaign, which is lobbying the government to regulate witch doctors and better resource the police. >> the children have no voices, and their voices have been silenced by the law, by the police not acting, by people who do nothing. so we help to do whatever it takes to fight this evil. >> do you think they'll listen? >> we pray that they will. >> note note hallelujah ♪ >> no one from the ugandan government agreed to do an interview. the police deny inaction and

corruption. charities claim that without the full force of the law, there is little that can be done to protect uganda's children from the witch doctors that kill for profit. alan's attacker remains a free man. chris rogers, bbc news, uganda. >> countries along the indian ocean are testing a tsunami early warning system which was set up after the 2004 wave off western indonesia, which you will recall, of course, left more than 230,000 people dead or missing. the first full-scale trial of the system tested communication between the countries involved. the drill was started as indonesia's meteorologist, climate to go and geophysics agency in jakarta. right, now, where are we? we're getting to that moment where what you think you're seeing -- oh, thank you. we're moving on to another story, that moment where you

think what you're seeing convinces you you probably had one drink too many. let's just show you these pictures. bizarre scenes we have witnessed. pub-goers in an irish town running for their lives. why? because of an unexpected visitor coming through the bar. this is in county cavern. they all fled for cover. i can't blame them for that. the bull is not a china shop, but the porterhouse bar, recked the place, then left, really, just damaged a pool table, holes in the wall, but all in all, the bull, you'll be glad to know, got out unharmed. funny world, isn't it? bbc.com/news is place to go for more on all the stories we've covered in the course of this bulletin, and you will see there more details on events in burma. we've seen the first among hundreds and probably thousands to come detainees being

released ads part of reforms in the country, it would seem. more details on the website. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. union bank. and shell. >> this is kim --about to feel one of his favorite sensations. at shell, were developing more efficient fuels in countries like malaysia that can help us get the most from our energy resources. lets use energy more efficiently. lets go.

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